Portolá Trail Campsite (2)

The Tongva called this ground the gathering of the waters, for the streams that come off the hills and meet here, and the Spanish carried the phrase over as El Rodeo de las Aguas. Portolá's party camped near this spot on August 3, 1769, their second night crossing the basin. In 1838 the Mexican government granted the rancho to María Rita Valdéz, a widow of African and Spanish descent, who ran cattle and horses on it until she sold in 1854 for four thousand dollars.

What the plaque says

The expedition of Don Gaspar de Portolá from Mexico passed this way en route to Monterey to begin the Spanish colonization of California. With Captain Don Fernando Rivera y Moncada, Lieutenant Don Pedro Fages, Sergeant José Francisco Ortega, and Fathers Juan Crespí and Francisco Gómez, Portolá and his party camped near this spot on August 3, 1769.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Santa Monica Pier — 7.8 mi
  Where the Mother Road runs out of continent, and where the End of the Trail sign gives the drive somewhere to finish.
• Colorado Street Bridge — 13 mi
  Beaux-Arts concrete arches curving 150 feet above the Arroyo Seco, opened in 1913 and later a link in Route 66.
• Mission San Gabriel Arcangel — 16 mi
  The fourth Alta California mission, built on Tongva land with Tongva labor, rebuilt after arson and now telling that story straight.

More markers nearby

• Hancock Park-La Brea — 1.2 mi
• Harold Lloyd Estate (Greenacres) — 3.4 mi
• Freeman House — 3.7 mi
• Serra Springs — 4.8 mi